BRI's Educator Newsletter

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One theme we hear often from veteran social studies teachers is how vital it is to create a classroom culture built on civil discourse and respect ([link removed]) at the beginning of the school year. Because of this, we have chosen the civic virtue of respect as the theme of this week's newsletter. American history is packed with stories of respect and we have pulled together some narratives and lessons from our American Portraits resource ([link removed]) . For more ideas on how to create a respectful classroom culture, check out this lesson ([link removed]) . How are you fostering an atmosphere of respect in your classroom? We would love to hear from you. Email us (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) or share with us on social media and tag us!

As a thank you, we will enter you into our raffle. This year we're giving away ten $50 Amazon gift cards and one $500 Amazon gift card. Profile updates must be made before August 31st to be eligible for the raffle.
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Please encourage your students to join us for another season of online civil debate on our Think the Vote platform. We will be rolling out a new topic every week this year, and rewarding two students and their teachers with gift cards and swag. This week's question: Should the United States Government Increase the Amount of Taxes it Collects? ([link removed])

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The Point-Counterpoint feature is one of the defining characteristics of our free digital U.S. history textbook,Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. ([link removed]) A prime example of one of these can be found in the first chapter of Life, Liberty... which looks at the historical question: Should We Remember Christopher Columbus as a Conqueror or Explorer? ([link removed]) Should his actions be viewed through the lens of modern values, or should they be viewed within the context of his time? This lesson invites your students to explore both sides of this ongoing historical debate.

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Religion was at the heart of the founding of the American colonies, but did you know that it played a major role in political life? ** In our first fall episode of Scholar Talks ([link removed])
, BRI Senior Teaching Fellow Tony Williams is joined by Jonathan Den Hartog, Professor of History at Samford University, to discuss how religion influenced politics in the early republic.

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Educator Spotlight

Meet Clint Rodreick!
A Bill of Rights Institute Teacher Council member from Phoenix, Oregon, Clint Rodereick has been teaching classes including AP U.S. History, Economics, and Speech and Debate for thirteen years. As certain issues have become increasingly polarized over the course of his teaching career, Clint appreciates the format of BRI seminars and the discourse that they promote** ....Read More. ([link removed])

BoE: Bottom of Email

Dear John,

Is it a coincidence that we chose respect as the theme of this week's newsletter right after the weekend premiere of the new film about Aretha Franklin? Maybe, Maybe not...

The truth is anytime is a good time to find out what the word means to all of us, but especially at the start of a new school year. Without an atmosphere of respect, the Founders would certainly not have been able to create a new government. And progress on civil rights for women, African Americans, and other minorities would definitely have been impossible until those communities were given the respect due to them by the government and civil society.

At the Bill of Rights Institute, we understand that the kind of difficult conversations you will inevitably have in your classrooms this year cannot take place without an atmosphere of respect. This is one of the reasons we have created the Civil Conversations speaker series on how to approach some of the most challenging topics of today including race, religion, and politics. You can ** watch the series on YouTube ([link removed])
and tune in live for the final conversation in this series with Dr. Wayne Journell on ** August 24 from 4:00-5:00 PM ET ([link removed])
. The final topic will be Teaching Politics in the social studies classroom.

Finally, if you're looking for a safe online space for your students to engage in respectful debate about current events, we hope that you will share our ** Think the Vote debate platform ([link removed])
with them. We curate comments on a new topic every week from students around the country and each week we reward two students and their teachers with swag and gift cards. We look forward to hearing what your students have to say about the important issues of the day!

Warmly,

Laura Vlk
Director, Educator Engagement
Bill of Rights Institute
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